Developers have increasingly gained power within all types of organizations throughout the digital age, and the occupation is still growing faster than ever. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that employment of software developers and other technologists will grow 22% between 2020 and 2030. These builders are in high demand and they want control over buying the tools they use to do their jobs.

Software purchasing decisions are not just made at the top and the Stack Overflow Developer Survey supports this trend. We found that 62% of professional developers who responded said they have influence over technology purchases in their organizations. Moreover, technologists are no longer siloed from their business counterparts. Business teams are involved in more cross-functional collaboration and recognize that developers are experts in evaluating and selecting technology solutions.

Developers are increasingly being consulted by executive leadership and lines of business management for critical buying decisions. Research on software purchasing trends from Bessemer Venture Partners and Auth0 revealed that 87% of organizations value or highly value the product feedback provided by developers. And 91% of developers say it is important they are consulted during the technology evaluation process.

When business leaders are selecting technology vendors, they weigh a number of factors before signing on. They ask questions such as:

• What are the up-front and long-term costs?
• Who will use this technology platform and will it save the business money and resources?
• How does this technology compare to similar products in the market?
• Does this technology vendor understand our specific industry?

Developers are well suited to contribute answers to these questions. Here’s why:

• Developers love to try before they buy. They test out multiple solutions for free, providing valuable insight to those making big-ticket purchasing decisions.
• Developers understand the difference between a must-have and a nice-to-have technology product.
• Developers can assess a technology provider's ability to cater to their industry, providing valuable input to a decision-maker. The development team’s preference may be more expensive but results in a net cost and time savings.
• Developers uniquely understand both the product landscape and their own companies’ needs.